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I had a natural birth, but that was only because there was no time for anything else. I was in the hospital maybe 10 minutes before I was pushing. With my first one, I had an epideral and was thankful. I had back labor and would not have been able to handle it without it. It was like someone hitting my tailbone with a sledgehammer with every contraction. Every birth is different, they will ask you when the time comes if you want one or not.
My goal was natural but I was open to changing my mind when I was in the moment. I think my labor would have probably gone faster had I not had the epidural but I don't regret it. I just didn't have a break between contractions and couldn't take it anymore.
My best friend had her beautiful baby girl on Monday, and I spent most of the evening at the hospital with her. She went in with the intention of having a natural birth, but was in a lot of pain from the contractions and opted for the epidural.
I didn't vote because I've had both. It was definitely a more pleasant experience with the epidural though. I wan't going to take it and really wasn't all that miserable, but was told I had to take it when it was offered or wait and hope the anesthesiologist was back when I did want it...so I took it. I"m glad I did. Labor was pretty much pain free, and the epidural had pretty much worn off by the time it was time to push.
The time I went without an epidural, I had a lot of complications and things got pretty unpleasant. I really should have had the epidural for that birth and would have been fine without it for the other one, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. You don't know when labor starts what is going to happen.
I had 2 natural births. The first one they gave me a little something to ease the pain-but it wasn't an epidural. The 2nd birth was totally natural. With that said, I had very fast deliveries.
My original goal was a non-medicated birth. I had wanted that based on my mom's experience with me a my sister. For my older sister he had an epidural and since you still get all the pressure she decided to go natural with me 2 years later. For her experience she said she would have done natural again if she'd had a third child. For my experience, I changed my mind and asked for an epidural during labor but it was too late by that time so I ended up having the birth experience I originally wanted. If I'd known I would go that fast I think I could have held out and not asked but since you never know . . .
Epidural. 30+ hours of labor, half of it back labor and I felt like I was being sawed in half. I had nothing to prove to anyone or myself at that point.
i guess it depends also on what you consider "natural". sometimes a vaginal birth no matter unmedicated or severely medicalized (whether epidural, PIT, inductions, etc) is considered natural birth.
I used no pain meds for either of my deliveries, and with my son I was in labour for 29 hours, and he was born face up! With my daughter, I went into labour at 2:20 in afternoon and she was born at 5:05, she was pretty quick! I truly wanted to experience an all natural birth, and while I was pregnant with my son I was really curious as to what labour felt like, I had every intention of feeling the pain. I am truly glad that I felt every contraction and every little twinge, it was worth every agonizing second! When it was over, I felt so empowered and this sounds weird, but I felt like I really accomplished something. And it was nice being able to walk around and not have an IV or anything like that. I was really worried about how the pain drugs would affect my baby, I spent 9 months watching everything I put in my mouth so it seemed silly to get any sort of drug.
copied nd pasted from abother thread:
I was given an epidural sooner than I should have been, and it actually protracted the delivery process.
Also, the nurses didn't read my chart and failed to see that I am allergic to opiates/barbiturates (like morphine and synthetic drugs that mimic morphine etc). So yeah, feeling like my veins were on fire/itchy during delivery was not cool.
If I could go back and change one thing about my delivery the epidural would be it.
If I have another baby I am definitely going to go natural.
eta: At the end of delivery I was so exhausted (I was up for more than 27 hours straight + pain + allergic reaction) that I was blacking out & the doctor opted to use a kiwi-cup to help.
@Bostonsmom: Great story! My mom had a natural birth with me, standing up even, and she sounds the same when she talks about it. She always says it was a "powerful" experience.
Really there's nothing *un* natural about the way any woman chooses to give birth. It's all difficult and a major accomplishment.
@KatyElle: I never said that if you got pain meds it wasn't an accomplishment but I'm sorry if you took it that way. But I'm positive that it's more difficult if you can feel the contractions, rather than not feel them. Thats why epidurals were invented, to make labour easier on the woman. I never stated there was something wrong with that.
to quote the OP: How many bees chose to go the natural route?
She didn't ask for epidural stories, she asked about natural birth and I responded accordingly.
@Bostonsmom: Ummm.. wasn't responding to you. Epidural was a poll option, so I was commenting on that. Please don't tell me what I can and can't comment on.
Natural. I think there is so much more to it than pain versus no pain though, and I think some people (not necessarily OP) just focus on that. It's not like I was trying to prove how tough I am.
Plus, some people have more difficult labors than others. I've been told I have a really high pain tolerance, since I've had lots of sports injuries and other painful medical issues that I was able to handle easily. I still had a moment during transition that I thought I couldn't do it. Afterwards was such a high, though! I loved being able to move around. I actually hated it when they wanted me to lay in the bed to check my dilation.
@KatyElle: Agreed, I'm just trying to see what OP considers "natural" (hence the quotes) because it's such a subjective term. I stopped using the word "natural" birth for the most part a while back and replaced the term with "unmedicated" birth for that very reason.
Personally, I think it's ridiculous to walk around labeling something as "natural" based on what your opinion is. To women in third world countries "natural" means on the ground or in a field, so since we deliver in a bed in a house/hospital that would not be considered "natural" to them. And what is the opposing term then... "unnatural"? please. This is 2011, everyone has help with their birth unless they are sitting in the backyard all alone with no tools and no one to help you. women have been having help as long as we have been birthing... and it is a good thing! high and mighty "your birth was not natural because you had PIT" comments aggravate me. my best friend is a doula and one of her last clients had pitocin and every time she would say "we were all natural!" you KNEW she was talking about fighting the epi suggestions in the room. and hey, who's to say it wasn't "natural" anyway? :]
@cannotwait: that moment during transition really is something!!! Oh my gosh, I literally went absolutely crazy for a bit, but once I got through it I was so pumped, definitely some sort of high, because I was euphoric thinking that I could actually make it through.
@elliestan: Yeah. I had an epidural 24 hours into back labor, believe me I felt those contractions. I totally agree with the points you've made.
Well, of course there's always that small % of women that have easy time giving birth. For the rest of us, if you go natural there is a small window of time where most women think "I can't do this" somewhere between 7 & 9 cm I think. Mine was between 6 & 8 cm. It just got really intense and the contrax were close together but then it was almost time to push. I definitely agree with a MAJOR high afterwards, though. I don't think of it as a negative thing, though, just knowing about it will make you more prepared. I think it doesn't last more than an hour for most people, and it usually means you are about to push, so it's good for your birth partner to remind you, etc. if you want to go natural.
@monalisa670: Transition is the end of the first stage of labor where your cervix is dialating from 8 to 10 centimeters. Your contractions are coming hard and fast and many women find it very difficult. It tends to last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. For me, it was more about the emotions than the physical sensations. The best way I can describe it is that I felt like I was going to "come apart", almost frantic. It can be quite overwhelming for the mom and her support person. It's not fun but when I felt it, I knew I was almost there. The hardest part for me was letting go of my sense of control and mentally getting out of the way so my body could do it's job.
I haven't had my little one yet (3 weeks!) but I hope to have a natural birth but will remain open to the possibilities of an epi,etc...I think it's best to be open minded about it and try to not beat yourself up over it either way
Natural births were very much in style when I gave birth. However, if I was giving birth today, I would definitely be going for the epidural!
Completely natural. 50 hours of labor with a good part of it in my back. She was born face up so that didn't help at all... I cried but I will do it all natural next time :)
I wasn't scared of the pain, but I also knew that there was no medal at the end for doing it naturally. I had the most blissful birth experience and it involved epidural pain medication towards the end.
I intended to have a drug-free birth if possible. I was hoping to avoid even an IV, much less pain meds. But I was open to seeing how things went. I ended up being induced, which really affected my plans, since I got an IV immediately and was on pitocin. I labored for 21 hours, with the last 2 hours before pushing consisting on back to back contractions with no break in between. I ended up with a spinal block, not an epidural. It wore off by the time I pushed Baby T out, after 3 hours of pushing. Thankfully I had two midwives there who were incredibly supportive of my plan to stay as natural as possible, great nursing staff, and my mom and DH who also helped to support my plan and the changes I/we needed to make along the way.
After the fact, I really feel that you need to be flexible. It really helps to have medical providers who are very supportive of your plan to go natural. But in the end, you never know how labor will go.
I didn't take the epidural, I just didn't feel it was neccesary i.e the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
My son was born with no medication. I was dead-set against no medication for several reasons.
I feel bad for you ladies who labored 18 and 30 hours. That's just nuts to me! My boy was born in under 3 hours and I couldn't have even imaged going double that at 6 hours! Props to you ladies for enduring that.
@Bostonsmom: Just an FYI, epidurals were not created to make labor easier on women. There were created to make labor easier on the doctors and nurses.
@Ms. Pink Scrubs: I second everything you said! I felt a loss of control, and it totally freaked me out. I felt like I went absolutely insane for about an hour, where I didn't know what was going on or what was going to happen, and I was in a panic. But then I came to my senses and started counting down my contractions, it really helped to have a focal point. 5 minutes after I was fully dialated, my daughter was born!
I had both my kids naturally. From the time they broke my water to the time I actually delivered was 8 hours with both children. I was induced both times because I was 2 weeks late. I checked in the hospital around 6am with my daughter, they broke my water at 5pm and she was born at 1am. I checked in the hospital with my son around 6am, they broke my water at noon and he was born at 8pm. Totally rough but also sooo worth it! :)
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Beekeeper
I would just like to know because it seems so many people are in favor of epidural because they are scared of the pain. How many bees chose to go the natural route?